


Sleep Deprivation

by domokunrainbowkinz



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Dance, Crack, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, I'm so tired, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, POV Alternating, Wingman Phichit Chulanont, don't worry they won't just be wingmen, fuck idk how to tag this, wingman christophe, wingman makkachin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-10-23 18:44:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10725042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/domokunrainbowkinz/pseuds/domokunrainbowkinz
Summary: Ways to meet people at university:1) during lecture, and you become lecture buddies for that one semester2) from extracurricular clubs and sports teams3) parties4) hug their dog and compliment their second language while sleep-deprivedGuess how Yuuri met Victor.DISCONTINUED (for now...we'll see what happens)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys i have one more exam tomorrow and instead i write a one-shot where i self-project into yuuri lol, pray 4 me my dudes. also this is the most crack-y thing i've ever written in my life do not take any of this seriously, i'm literally existing on another plane of reality right now.  
> EDIT: I changed the summary, since this is NOT a one-shot anymore and I feel like this summary sets up the fic more

               His head hurt, time is an illusion, and Yuuri must have ascended to the astral plane.

               Walking out of his exam, he squinted painfully at the shining sun. Why was it so bright? How rude. Didn’t the sun know better than that? He’s tired, his eyes hurt, and the piercing rays only made his pounding headache worse.

               It was a bad idea to pull so many all-nighters in a row. Really, Yuuri should’ve known better, it’s not like this hasn’t happened before. But it’s amazing what 3 cups of coffee and panic can do; he’d managed to cram in a month’s worth of material into his poor brain in one night while constantly berating himself for not studying them material earlier in the semester like he intended to. Honestly, right now, he’s just grateful he didn’t pass out during the exam, he couldn’t care less what grade he gets at this point.

               He felt envious of his friend, Phichit, who finished the same exam as Yuuri, looking just as tired. At least he’s done after this one. Yuuri still has one more the next day, and of course it had to be _biochemistry_. Not like his head didn’t already hurt enough. Memorizing purine synthesis pathways and working out how many ATP’s are used in each process is going to give him the worst migraine tonight.

               “Ugh, I’m going to pass out when I get home,” Phichit groaned as they reached an intersection. Yuuri was headed towards the library, whereas Phichit is going to the bus loop.

               “I’m about to pass out right now,” Yuuri groaned back. Phichit looked at him sympathetically with dark circles under his eyes.

               “Get some rest Yuuri. Just take, like, a short nap.”

               “After my exam tomorrow,” Yuuri said. Phichit wished him luck, then they parted ways.

               Yuuri could barely see in front of him, his vision growing blurrier and blurrier by the second. Maybe he really _will_ pass out on the middle of the street. Maybe a car will run over him. Well, if that happened, he might get an exam deferral, which gives him more time to study. Might not be a bad idea.

               Yuuri was so lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice the big, brown poodle in front of him until it leapt at his chest enthusiastically. Caught by surprise, Yuuri lost his balance and fell backwards, his head spinning as his ass hit the pavement, his back at an awkward angle thanks to the backpack he had on. The dog licked his face excitedly as Yuuri rubbed the soft, curly fur.

               This was a nice dog. A premium dog. Probably the best dog Yuuri ever encountered. He was so cute, Yuuri could cry. And so comfy too, like a soft pillow. He rested his head into the fur, wrapping the dog in a tight embrace.

               “Good dog…good boy…so comfy…I love you…” Yuuri mumbled blearily. The dog _boofed_ in response, wagging its tail enthusiastically as Yuuri kept cuddling. He slowly felt his eyelids droop, the sound of the dog’s panting growing fainter and fainter…

               His cheek touched something rough. Raising his head, he realized the dog had a collar on, with a metal tag hanging in front. Yuuri squinted at the inscription on the tag.

               “The fuck kind of name is ‘Binktop’?” he mumbled. The name didn’t suit such an adorable dog. Or was it the name of the dog’s owner? Who cares though, the dog is Yuuri’s now, he decided.

               In the distance, he heard a voice calling out.

               “Makkachin! What are you doing?”

               The dog barked at the voice then broke away from Yuuri, who immediately started to reach back for the dog. Why did the dog run away? It was so comfy, so warm, and Yuuri loved it so much. He thought they had something special. Obviously not.

               Yuuri was about to cry when he saw the dog return, its tongue swinging out happily as it snuggled back into Yuuri’s chest. He wrapped his arms around it, thankful his loving companion was back.

               He heard footsteps in front of him, and Yuuri felt the dog turning towards the sound. Yuuri looked up and felt his heart stop.

               Standing above him was the most gorgeous person he had ever seen in his life.

               The man had pale blond hair, almost silver, that was swaying slightly in the breeze and glowing in the sunlight. His eyes were the most vivid shade of blue Yuuri had ever seen, and the way the sun cast shadows on his face made him seem ethereal, the golden light glowing like a halo behind his head.

               An angel, Yuuri realized. While he was preoccupied with the dog, a car must have run him over and he already died, and this was the angel sent to guide him to the afterlife. This must be the only plausible explanation. Funny though, Yuuri didn’t remember being run over, and he’s still on the sidewalk, where cars shouldn’t be.

               “Are you an angel?” Yuuri asked the man. May as well be certain.

               The man blinked, then laughed. It was a melodic and magical sound, and Yuuri was sure flowers started blooming out the cracks of the sidewalk.

               “Well, I’ve been complimented a lot, but this is the first time anyone has ever called me an angel,” he replied, kneeling down so he was eye-level with Yuuri. “What’s your name?”

               “Yuuri,” he replied, stroking the dog’s fur absentmindedly. If Yuuri was more awake, he’d be a blushing mess right now, but the lack of sleep seemed to have removed every ounce of self-consciousness from his mind.

               “Yuuri,” the man repeated, dragging out the middle vowels. “I’m Victor. Nice to meet you. And this is my dog, Makkachin.”

               Ah. So the dog’s name is Makkachin. A much better name than Binktop. But then who’s Binktop?

               “Oh…it’s not Binktop. It’s just my name in Cyrillic,” Victor said with a laugh, and Yuuri realized he said that thought out loud.

               “Cyrillic…Cyrillic…” Yuuri racked his brains for the language. What language was Cyrillic from?

               “Russian,” Victor answered, like he read Yuuri’s mind. Not only was he beautiful, but he’s smart and he can read minds too. What an amazing person.

               “Ah…Russian…” Yuuri pondered, “that’s a pretty sexy language.”

               “S-sexy?” Victor stuttered, and Yuuri could see his cheeks turned slightly pink. How unfair; Victor looked gorgeously adorable when he was embarrassed. How can someone look so good when they’re flustered?

               “Yeah…probably sexier coming from you…” Yuuri added. Sometime in the future he’ll feel embarrassed about it, but right now he just didn’t care about anything anymore. It was like the filter between his mouth and brain had disappeared, and the words were just spilling out of him without any thought.

               “Pozhaluysta, spite so mnoy pryamo seychas,” Victor said quickly and Yuuri couldn’t help but smile. Yes, he was right: Russian definitely _did_ sound sexier coming from this insanely beautiful man.

               “I have no idea what you said but sounds good,” Yuuri complimented. His back was starting to hurt and his ass was getting numb from sitting on the sidewalk, so he got up slowly, shifting his backpack to a more comfortable position.

               “Do you want a translation?” Victor offered, a smirk on his face.

               “Maybe later,” Yuuri replied, “I have an exam tomorrow and I need to study.”

               “Oh…I see,” Victor said, looking slightly disappointed. Suddenly, he whipped out his phone and handed it to Yuuri. “Can I get your number? After your exam I can tell you the translation.”

               “Okay,” Yuuri said, inputting the digits into the phone. It was a miracle he even remembered his own number, since his brain was so filled with mechanisms and physiological processes from the previous exam it felt like there was no more room for anything else.

               “Great! Well, I guess I better not keep you for too long. Good luck on your exam Yuuri,” Victor said, then beckoned for Makkachin to follow him.

               Yuuri spent the rest of the day huddled over his biochemistry notes, copying down the mechanisms over and over again to the point where he could draw them out in his sleep. He did so many practice problems his head felt like bursting open, and he took a few power naps to at least stay alive and somewhat sane.

               His last exam came and went in a flash, and he felt so wrung out and exhausted he went straight home and passed out in five seconds flat. When he woke up, he saw a message from an unknown number on his phone.

               _It’s victor ;) I hope your exam went well! Are you free tomorrow at 12?_

The events of the previous day came rushing back to him, and in his well-rested state his face burnt up as he fully processed what had happened. Yes, he cuddled a random stranger’s dog and then told said random stranger that he sounded sexy speaking Russian. If Phichit ever found out about this (which he probably will), he’ll never let Yuuri live it down.

               A huge part of Yuuri felt mortified and he didn’t want to answer the text, but Victor had been nice yesterday, plus his dog was really cute. He also said he’d give Yuuri a translation of what he said in Russian yesterday. Curiosity got the better of him, and he fired a text back.

               _Ahh thanks! And yeah, I’m free tmrw. Why do you ask?_

A few seconds later, a next text appeared.

               _Oh, I was hoping we could grab coffee together or something. Also, I still need to tell you the translation of what I said yesterday lol_

 _Sure,_ Yuuri texted back, _sounds good_.

               He wondered what the translation meant.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> coffee date with the bois

Yuuri was sprinting to the university café, 10 minutes late for his coffee date with Victor.

He found the man leaning against the wall beside the entrance, looking at his phone with a concerned expression. Hearing Yuuri’s frantic panting, Victor turned towards the noise and gave him a bright smile.

“Yuuri! I was getting worried. I thought I was being stood up,” he said nonchalantly as Yuuri tried to catch his breath. In a way, he’s thankful that he ran, because then he could blame the redness on his face on that instead of the fact that Victor looked drop-dead _gorgeous_.

“Sorry…I slept in…” Yuuri panted as they entered the café. Immediately, the smell of freshly roasted coffee filled the air. It was a pleasant scent, but it also gave Yuuri nightmare flashbacks to his sleepless nights where his desk was covered with coffee cups.

“Well, it’s exam season so I don’t really blame you. Seemed like you really needed that sleep,” Victor commented cheekily as they looked over the selections. Yuuri felt his face heat up.

“Yeah…I was really tired,” Yuuri admitted lamely. “Sorry for all that weird stuff I said the other day. Whenever I’m sleep deprived, I start running my mouth.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Victor said, waving his hand. “Everyone’s a little weird when they’re tired.”

“I guess…” Yuuri faltered, then looked at the menu. He felt like if someone analyzed the contents of his bloodstream, they would find a disproportionately large amount of caffeine, so he settled on some green tea instead. Victor, on the other hand, got a large latte with three shots of espresso. Seeing Yuuri’s concerned expression, Victor laughed.

“I have an exam later today and I only slept for four hours,” Victor admitted cheerily as they sat down at a table. Yuuri choked on his drink.

“Shouldn’t you be studying for that right now?” he asked. Who invites someone out on a coffee date right before their exam? And how could Victor still look _this good_ for someone who should be half-dead?

“Well, I figured that I’ve pretty much studied all that I could for the past couple of weeks, so anything I study now probably wouldn’t help much. And besides, I’d much rather be having coffee with a cute guy than looking over physics equations,” Victor said slyly, sipping his coffee.

“Physics equations? Are you a physics major?” Yuuri asked, ignoring Victor’s comment. Victor said it himself: everyone’s a little weird when they’re tired, and he should be no exception.

“Nope, but close. I’m in engineering physics. I thought you knew?”

“Huh? Why would I know?” Yuuri asked, confused about Victor’s question. As far as he knew, he’s never even _seen_ Victor on campus before. He’d definitely remember if he saw a god on campus.

Right?

“You know who won the AMS presidential election right? The engineering cairn?” Victor asked slowly, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh right, I remember that…wait, was that you?!” Yuuri exclaimed. Earlier in the year, during the Alma Mater Society elections, someone had entered in the stone cairn that was owned by the faculty of engineering as a presidential candidate. Yuuri never cared much about the politics surrounding the university, but he still made an effort to vote. He decided to vote for the cairn because he thought it’d be funny if it actually won.

Which it did.

And now Yuuri felt like an idiot, because he _had_ seen Victor’s face before, in the university newspaper article about the election.

“I’m actually surprised it won,” Victor said, sipping his latte. “My friend dared me to add in a joke candidate, just for fun. I mean, I was prepared and I had a platform and everything, but I didn’t expect people to actually vote for an inanimate object as their AMS president.”

“I thought it’d be funny…” Yuuri mumbled, feeling a blush spread across his face. Victor laughed, his eyes crinkling with mirth.

“That’s what a lot of people told me! But a lot of people also said that I was more qualified than all the other ‘serious’ candidates, since I’ve actually _attended_ the council meetings and I’ve been leading the EUS for the past year, and I guess some people became convinced.”

“Huh…” Yuuri said. It seemed Victor was very involved with the campus, being the leader of the engineering undergraduate society and now the new AMS president. He sounded popular too. And from the way he seemed completely calm before an exam, Yuuri would bet he’s smart as well. As if all of this wasn’t enough, he had to be impossibly handsome as well.

Inside, he laughed at himself. The only club he’s involved in is the dance club, and other than that, he’s never made the time nor effort to join other ones. His GPA was mediocre at best, but after this round of exams, he’s sure it’s about to take another dive. It was also hard to make lots of friends in such a big university campus, and his anxiety didn’t make it any easier. To top it all off, he was also as plain-looking as plain could get, dark brown hair with dark brown eyes.

In every single aspect, Victor was way out of Yuuri’s league.

“But enough about me. Let’s talk about you,” Victor said. “What’s your major?”

“Integrated sciences,” Yuuri replied, and seeing the confused look on Victor’s face, he continued to explain. “It’s sort of a make-your-own-degree kind of thing. I’m combining psychology, pharmacology and physiology.”

“Oh, that sounds cool!” Victor exclaimed, his face lighting up. Yuuri thought he almost looked like an excited puppy, the way his eyes widened and a huge, heart-shaped smile spread across his face.

“I guess…but it’s a lot harder than I thought it would be,” Yuuri said with a humourless laugh, thinking about all the barely-passing marks he got on his exams, the way he watched his GPA drop with every course grade that came out. Usually people’s GPA goes up as they progress through university, but Yuuri’s has been going _down_ every year. He’d been thinking about changing his major for some time now, and settling for something easier that wouldn’t completely kill his GPA and sanity.

“Well that’s university, isn’t it? Everything’s hard,” Victor sighed, then finished the rest of his latte and looked at his phone.

“Oh, my exam’s in ten minutes,” he said calmly, not showing any signs of nervousness.

“Ten minutes!? You should go now!” Yuuri yelled, distressed about how this man isn’t freaking out over the fact that his exam is in _ten minutes_.

“You’re right I should…but before that, I wanted to let you know that there’s a post-exam time party happening tomorrow. You should come,” Victor said, giving Yuuri a bright smile.

“Ah, thanks for the invite…but I’m not really a party person,” Yuuri replied, then felt his heart drop a little as Victor’s smile faded into a pout. He almost looked disappointed.

“Oh…I was really hoping you’d come. And I was about to tell you the translation…”

“The translation…right!” Yuuri exclaimed, remembering the Russian phrase that Victor said while Yuuri was in a sleep-deprived haze. How could he have forgotten?

“I was going to tell you earlier, but we got a little sidetracked,” Victor continued, a coy smile playing on his lips, “and I’m afraid I just don’t have time now to tell you. But if you come to the party, I’ll definitely tell you then.”

Yuuri almost glared at Victor, hating that he was being played like this. He’ll have to try harder than that.

“Oh, then in that case, it’s fine. I can live without the translation,” Yuuri said cooly, and Victor’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Yuuuuri,” he whined, giving Yuuri his best wide-eyed, puppy-dog expression. Yuuri almost caved in right then and there, but he swallowed hard and stood his ground.

“I already told you, I’m not a party person,” Yuuri said, “but my roommate is. He’ll definitely go.”

“You know what’s better? If you _both_ come to the party,” Victor suggested, batting his eyelashes in a way that made Yuuri’s heart do somersaults. He knew _exactly_ what Victor was doing, and as much as he hated to admit this, it was working.

“I’m pretty lame at parties though…I mean, I’ll probably just be standing in a corner the entire time,” Yuuri tried weakly, feeling his resolve start to crumble as he became lost in the ocean-blue eyes that stared at him.

“That’s fine. I’ll just stand in the corner with you,” Victor replied without missing a beat.

“It’ll be pretty boring.”

“Not to me,” Victor countered, and Yuuri gave him a confused look.

“I like you, Yuuri. I just want to know you better.”

_Are you sure?_ Yuuri almost blurted out, because why on Earth would someone like Victor want to know Yuuri better?

“You mean, as a friend?” he asked.

“Sure,” Victor replied, a hint of amusement in his tone. Yuuri sighed, playing with the now-empty cup between his hands.

“…I’ll think about it,” he decided, and Victor gave him that big, heart-shaped smile again.

“Great! Well, I gotta go now. See you tomorrow night!”

“Good luck,” Yuuri said, giving Victor a small smile. He watched as Victor left the café and ran, no, _sprinted_ , towards the building of his exam. Hopefully it wasn’t too far away.

He leaned back in his chair and texted his roommate.

**Yuuri**

_I got invited to a party tmrw night. Wanna go?_

**Phichit**

_B o i you know I’m always down to get #lit lmaoooo :P who invited u tho?_

**Yuuri**

_Oh, a friend that I met yesterday. We went out for coffee_

**Phichit**

_A COFFEE DATE?????? YUURI U DIDN’T TELL ME THIS WTF ARE THEY HOT_

**Yuuri**

_Calm ur thirsty ass omg, and ya I guess they’re pretty hot lol_

_So we going tmrw or nah?_

**Phichit**

_Uh m;;;; YES????? WE ARE GOING????? If ur hot friend is gonna be there ;)_

**Yuuri**

_Okayyy then_

**Phichit**

_Yo my break is almost over, tell me A L L the deets once I get home!!!!!_

_I need to know more about this hot friend of urs_

**Yuuri**

_Get back to work Phichit_

**Phichit**

_yes mother <3_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh, so due to somewhat popular demand, i've decided to continue this. i've pree much got the basic plotline down, and this is probably gonna be a short-ish fic. this chapter is kind of exposition-ish, to introduce more about yuuri and victor's background in this fic, but next chapter is gonna be L I T because it's a party, and uni parties always have alcohol, and y'all know what happens when yuuri + alcohol ;)))))  
> update schedule is *truck horn sounds* (i'm taking a summer class and i'm also re-taking the mcat exam so i gotta study for that, and also work and volunteering lmao)  
> scream at me on my [tumblr](http://domokunrainbowkinz.tumblr.com/)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yuuri gets drunk

“YUURI! I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS!” Phichit screamed after Yuuri finished telling him the entire story how he and Victor met, as well as their coffee date. They lounged on the couch in their shared apartment with a sitcom playing on the television in the background, sharing a tub of ice-cream.

“So yeah. I basically embarrassed myself in front of him, he said something weird in Russian, and then he invited me out for coffee and now he wants me to go to a party tomorrow night,” Yuuri said. “Phichit, I’m confused. Why would he try so hard to get me to come? And then there’s that Russian phrase he won’t tell me the translation for…”

“Yuuri,” Phichit said seriously, “he likes you.”

“Yeah, I know that, he told me…I just think it’s weird how he still wanted to be friends after all the weird stuff I said to him - ”

“No Yuuri,” Phichit cut in, “I meant more as a friend.”

“Phichit,” Yuuri said, blushing all the way up to his ears, “what the fuck.”

“I’m serious Yuuri! Even from your shitty explanations I could tell he was flirting with you the entire time! _Especially_ with the mysterious Russian he said to you, he’s totally teasing you with it!”

“I think that’s just who he is as a person,” Yuuri retorted, shoving a spoonful of ice-cream into his mouth. It already made zero sense to Yuuri that Victor would want to be his friend, but to _flirt_ with Yuuri like he was interested? That made even less sense than the drug names Yuuri had to memorize for his pharmacology courses, and that was saying a lot.

Phichit sighed and ate a spoonful of ice-cream.

“Man, and I was hoping to bag this hot friend of yours…but you beat me to the punch,” he mumbled, the ice-cream melting in his mouth.

“You can still bag him at the party,” Yuuri said, because he was very sure Victor would be much more interested in his cheerful, extroverted friend. Sometimes, Yuuri was envious of how easily Phichit could talk to others, how they all gravitated around him at social events, how he leaves these events with new friends and connections. He thought living with Phichit for the past three years would’ve had _some_ influence on him, but he was still the same, introverted and awkward around people, reluctant to open up.

However, if alcohol was involved, then it’s a totally different situation. Yuuri never remembered what happened the next morning, but Phichit’s photographic evidence was enough to tell him what his drunk self did. Very often, they’re things that would disappoint his parents and made him want to become an isolated sheep herder in Iceland.

“No way Yuuri, you’ve already got him in your bag. And besides,” Phichit smirked mischievously, “we all know you’re going to get drunk tomorrow night…”

“Phichit, I am not going to drink,” Yuuri said adamantly. He’s already embarrassed himself in front of Victor with his sleep deprived rambling, he won’t embarrass himself again with drunken antics. “Promise you’ll stop me if I drink too much.”

“Fine,” Phichit groaned, visibly disappointed he won’t be able to witness another drunk Yuuri story.

 _All I need to do is just go, stay for an hour, maybe find out the translation, and then leave_ , Yuuri thought to himself, eating another spoonful of ice-cream. _I’m sure nothing’s going to happen_.

//

“Yuuri, you need to stop drinking.”

“Shut the fuck up, you don’t know me,” Yuuri slurred, slapping Phichit’s arm away. Victor watched from a short distance away, taking a small sip of beer from his cup.

“Seems like your boy is enjoying himself,” his roommate, Chris, remarked from beside him. Yuuri and his roommate, Phichit, had arrived earlier that night. Victor tried to talk to Yuuri alone, but he was always found within an arm’s length away from Phichit. He wondered if Yuuri forgot to mention that he was also dating his roommate.

He really hoped that wasn’t the case.

As the night wore on, Yuuri kept drinking more and more cups of beer, getting more intoxicated with each drink. Victor wondered whether he should have kept a closer eye on him, but it was difficult with so many people trying to talk to him, congratulating him on his win in the elections, asking him what his plans for the upcoming school year were, will be convince the board to lower tuition this year? He expected getting these questions, but he couldn’t help but be annoyed because there was really only one person here he wanted to talk to.

Now, he and Chris watched as Phichit tried to wrestle the cup of beer away from Yuuri, only to have him pulling away, the contents spilling over the edge and onto the floor. Victor tried not to think of how much he and Chris will have to clean up after this.

“I hope he’s okay,” Victor said, and Chris smiled slyly next to him. “I didn’t expect him to get this shitfaced already.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure his friend is looking after him,” he said, taking a gulp of his beer. Yuuri seemed to have downed the rest of his beer, and was now trying to take his shirt off, which Phichit was desperately trying to keep on.

“Oh my God – Yuuri, please keep your shirt on!”

“But it’s _so hot_.”

“Oh God, sober you is going to _kill_ me,” Victor heard Phichit say to himself, but he didn’t seem disturbed at all. In fact, he was stifling laughter.

“Sober me can go and _fuck himself_ ,” Yuuri responded, then let out a huge hoot, making Phichit break out into a laughing fit. Victor couldn’t help but let out a small laugh, although he felt sympathy for Yuuri. The list of indecent things Victor did while drunk could fill the entire floor of the fraternity house, a fact that he wasn’t exactly proud of.

“You think sober me is more important huh? Is that it?” Yuuri said angrily to Phichit.

“Yu-Yuuri, you’re not making any sense right now,” he replied between bouts of laughter, which only made drunk Yuuri angrier.

“You’re the one that’s not making any sense! I thought I was your best friend!”

Phichit couldn’t even respond because he was laughing too hard, clutching his stomach and putting a hand on Yuuri’s shoulder to support himself.

“I’m sorry Phichit, but there’s only one way to settle this,” Yuuri said seriously, then stumbled his way to the middle of the dance floor, where a small crowd of people were moving with the rhythmic pulsing of the music. He turned towards Phichit, pointing a finger at him.

“You. Me. Dance-off,” he challenged, a deadly look on his face.

“YES!” Phichit whooped, then ran towards the dance floor.

“Oh, things are about to get interesting,” Chris said next to Victor, and they both moved towards the dance floor, where a circle was forming around Yuuri and Phichit, the spectators cheering as they moved with the music.

Yuuri danced first, moving his chest and hips with the rhythm. Victor’s eyes widened as he watched Yuuri dance, twisting and moving like his body was making music. The way he danced was captivating, and Victor couldn’t keep his eyes off him. He never would have thought that Yuuri would be such a good dancer, judging from the minimal interaction they had.

Phichit danced right after Yuuri finished, moving his body with the skilled movements of an experienced dancer. Were they both part of a dance club? A dance team? Victor would have to find out afterwards. He smirked at Yuuri after finishing his routine, goading the other boy to try and one-up him.

This continued on for a while, with more dancers joining into the competition, the movements getting more and more complicated as the dance-off progressed. Yuuri pulled off incredible moves, doing handstands and twirling his hips in ways that should be illegal and made Victor’s heart do somersaults. Eventually, they all just started dancing together, moving in sync to the song that was playing. Somewhere in the midst of the dancing, Chris had joined in, grinding against another man who seemed to be enjoying it far too much. Victor felt an itch in his body, like he wanted to join in on the dancing, but he wasn’t sure if he could keep up.

 _Fuck it,_ he thought, and downed the rest of his drink. He slowly made his way to the dancing group, moving tentatively to the music, catching Chris’ mischievous smile when he made it to the middle of the group.

Yuuri was still full of energy, twirling and twisting, a careless smile on his face. When he turned, he caught Victor’s eyes. He had always thought Yuuri had the most beautiful dark eyes when they first met, but in the dim light of the dance floor combined with the faint buzz of alcohol, his eyes looked ever more mysterious and alluring, drawing Victor in with his gaze. He threw him a flirtatious smile, then continued moving along with the music. Something burned inside Victor from that gaze, a strong need to take that smile, those eyes, and keep them for himself.

“You should look at yourself,” Chris said, Victor barely registering the voice next to him. “Go dance with him.”

“Are you sure?” Victor asked tentatively, unable to take his eyes off Yuuri’s captivating dancing. He turned towards Victor again, but this time, he held his hand out and gestured for Victor to join him.

“See!? Go to him!” Chris exclaimed, and practically shoved Victor towards Yuuri. He tripped over someone’s feet, and before he could register what just happened, he landed in someone’s arms.

“Viiictooor,” Yuuri drawled, snaking his arms around Victor’s neck, pulling him close, “dance with me.”

As he spoke, Victor could feel Yuuri’s breath on his face, their foreheads almost touching. He looked at Victor with heavy-lidded eyes, his face red with alcohol and sweaty from dancing, a sultry smile on his lips. Really, how could Victor say no to this?

“Anything for you, _krasivaya_ ,” he murmured, putting his hands on Yuuri’s hips. His eyebrows knitted together.

“More Russian?” he complained, and Victor laughed. He’d forgotten that he didn’t tell Yuuri the translation from their first meeting yet.

“I’ll tell you the translation later,” he promised.

“ _Victor_ _wa kakkoi baka da na,_ ” Yuuri grumbled.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Victor hadn’t danced for a while, but quickly found out it wouldn’t be a problem as Yuuri led them through the dance. It was evident he was a skilled dancer; it showed in his movements, how his limbs moved in perfect synchrony with the rhythm, how he pumps his chest at just the right time. They moved with each other to the music, Victor mirroring Yuuri’s movements as they twisted and twirled with the beat. As they continued dancing, Victor found himself smiling more and more, and then he was laughing like there wasn’t a care in the world.

All that mattered right now was the drunk boy dancing with him, just a pair of sparkling brown eyes, a dazzling smile, interlaced fingers.

However, as much as Victor wished the night wouldn’t end, Yuuri wasn’t superhuman, and he eventually started to tire. As the night started to wind down, he was draped over Victor, his head resting on his shoulder. Victor held him gently, turning them in slow, lazy circles.

“Ah, I think he’s about done for tonight,” a voice said from beside them, and Victor looked up to see Phichit. He seemed to have had a great time himself, judging from his dishevelled clothing. Yuuri was mumbling some incoherent Japanese into Victor’s shoulder.

“Do you want me to walk you two home?” Victor offered. Phichit waved his hand.

“It’s fine. I’ve done this tons of times before. Yuuri pretty much gets black-out drunk at almost every party we go to,” he explained. Victor laughed.

“Is this why he doesn’t like parties?” he asked as he reluctantly peeled Yuuri off himself, the other boy protesting and trying to keep himself on Victor.

“No, it’s mostly because he gets anxious around lots of people,” Phichit said as they draped Yuuri over his shoulder. “He tends to drink when he gets nervous, which leads to…well, this.”

“I see,” Victor said, leading the pair to the door.

“By the way, you should join the dance club,” Phichit said as he shoved his feet into his shoes, and struggled to get Yuuri’s shoes on his feet.

“The dance club?”

“Yeah, we’re pretty active during the fall semester, but we still hold some classes during the summer,” he explained, then gave up trying to put Yuuri’s shoes on, instead just holding them with his free hand. “You’re a pretty good dancer.”

“Am I?” Victor asked, surprised. He’d had some training from when he was younger, for his figure skating, but he’d stopped after he dropped the sport due to academics. And besides, he was trained in ballet, which wasn’t exactly the type of dance someone does at a university party.

“You’ve got a pretty good sense of rhythm. And also, anyone who could keep up with Yuuri is a good dancer in my books,” he added, shooting Victor a smile. He felt his heart flutter at the statement.

“I’ll be sure to check it out the club this summer,” he said, then said goodbye to the pair.

“Bye Victor, I love you,” Yuuri yelled drunkenly before passing out on Phichit’s shoulder, who started laughing. Inside, Victor felt his heart skip a beat, and for a second he forgot how to breathe.

“Tell him to call me tomorrow!” Victor yelled at Phichit, who gave him a thumbs-up. He waved to the pair was they disappeared down the street.

 “A shame there wasn’t a pole in here,” he heard Chris remark near him. He was considerably less-clothed than earlier, but he looked stone-cold sober.

“I really wanted to see if your boy could pole dance,” he continued, and Victor’s face reddened at the thought.

“He probably could,” Victor said, his mind conjuring up images of a half-naked Yuuri clinging onto a pole. If Yuuri really could pole-dance, and if Victor was able to witness it, there was no doubt in his mind that he would end up marrying that boy sometime in the future.

He and Chris stayed at the fraternity house that night, since they had a lot of cleaning up to do the next morning. Victor couldn’t fall asleep for a long time, still buzzing from the dancing, the music, the smoldering, dark eyes that reeled him in, Yuuri’s breath on Victor’s neck…

He turned to his side, burying his face into his pillow. A huge smile was spreading across his face, the silly, sappy, love-sick kind of smile that Victor thought would never happen to him.

Seeing a sleep-deprived boy cuddling his dog already surprised Victor, and seeing the same boy being flustered over coffee was endearing. And now, after seeing him drunk and dancing, moving like he was the most beautiful person in the room…

 _A crush_ , Victor thought to himself, a soft blush spreading over his face. _Definitely a crush._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, i guess this is also a dance AU now. it's 2:44 am, i just finished writing this, i'm sorry i couldn't fit in pole dancing BUT i promise it'll come up again later. also i totally pictured yuuri and the squad dancing to [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evm2KlyBRRo). i watched a bunch of 1million dance videos for this fic. not sure when the next update will be, but hopefully like, within a week? also, thank you for all the nice comments on this fic! didn't think my sleep-deprived rambling would get so much love lmao  
> scream at me on my [tumblr](http://domokunrainbowkinz.tumblr.com/).


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the aftermath

Yuuri woke up the next morning feeling like he got into a fist-fight with God the night before. A huge wave of nausea washed over him as he sat up, and he fought the rising bile in is stomach. Turning to his nightstand, he saw a glass of water and a bottle of aspirin with a note tucked under it.

_By the time you wake up, I’ll be at work. I got some peppermint tea and made breakfast – it’s in the fridge, just microwave it or something. Also, MAKE SURE YOU CALL VICTOR!!!!!_

_-Phichit :)_

Seeing the phrase “MAKE SURE YOU CALL VICTOR!!!!!” made alarm bells ring in Yuuri’s hungover mind. He strained his memory to try and remember what happened the night before, but came up blank. Aside from arriving to the house with Phichit and making some awkward small talk with Victor and Chris, he couldn’t for the life of him remember anything else.

He did remember drinking some beer though….

_Oh_ shit, Yuuri thought, burying his head in his hands. Judging from the pounding hangover he’s having and the lack of memories, he got black-out drunk again. Wasn’t Phichit supposed to prevent this from happening? What was he even _doing_ last night? Oh God, what _did_ Yuuri do last night?

He stared at the note. The absolute _last_ thing he wanted to do right now was call Victor, and he’s pretty sure he’s ruined any good impression he’s made. There’s no doubt Victor probably regrets inviting Yuuri to the party, probably thought he was indecent, and a million other things that made Yuuri want to bundle up in his blankets and hide in his bed forever. He probably wants Yuuri to call him to apologize for the mayhem he definitely caused last night.

Yuuri stretched out his sore muscles and rolled out of bed, going through his usual morning routine and eating the breakfast that Phichit had made. Sipping his peppermint tea, he mentally prepared himself for the apology, going over what he’ll say over and over in his head. But as he stared at Victor’s number, his thumb hovering over the “call” button, he couldn’t find it in himself to press it.

_Maybe…later_ , he thought, putting his phone away. Yes, definitely later. He’ll clean the apartment first, and then do the dishes, apply to a couple jobs, and then call.

//

Hours later, when Phichit came back from work, Yuuri still hadn’t called Victor.

“What are you waiting for?” his roommate asked with a frown. “You know he asked me to _make sure_ you called him, right?”

“He did?” Yuuri asked, his fear spiking exponentially. Oh God, he must have done something terrible for Victor to be asking that.

“Yeah…oh, it’s not anything bad though!” Phichit exclaimed, seeing Yuuri’s frozen expression. “I think he just wants to, I don’t know, ask you out or something.”

“That is the _last_ thing he wants to do-” Yuuri was cut off by his phone, which started ringing. He tried and failed not to panic when he saw Victor’s name pop up on the screen.

“Oh my God, he’s calling! Pick up, Yuuri!” Phichit pretty much screamed as Yuuri held onto the phone, trying to decide what to do. Should he pick up? Should he just leave it and hope it stops ringing soon? Oh God, he’s not ready he’s not ready he’s not ready –

In a fit of panic, he pressed the decline button, and the phone stopped ringing.

For a moment, no one said anything. Yuuri was processing what he just did, while Phichit stared in disbelief. And then-

“Yuuri, what the _fuck_ did you just do?”

“I-“ Yuuri choked out. He knew, with absolute clarity, that he definitely fucked it up.

“Call him back. Right now,” Phichit ordered.

“I-I’ll do it later.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know! I just don’t want to talk to him right now, okay?” Yuuri snapped. Phichit frowned.

“Well, at least send him a text. He’s probably pretty confused right now,” he suggested. Yuuri nodded, then started typing up a message. He typed a few sentences, then deleted all of them, then re-typed them, only to delete it all again. He had no idea what to say.

_I’ll send him a text…later_ , Yuuri thought to himself, wincing. He’s sure Phichit will chew him out for waiting, but something was stopping him from reaching out.

He’s already embarrassed himself enough times in front of Victor. Rationally, he knew that Victor is a nice person from the few conversations they’ve had and wouldn’t judge Yuuri, but his anxiety kept gnawing at him, insidiously whispering in his ear.

_He probably thinks I’m a nuisance…he definitely regrets inviting me…_

Yuuri will call him. Eventually.

//

A week passed, and as Yuuri sat in the lecture hall for his first summer class, he couldn’t help but feel guilty for not calling Victor after that night.

Phichit had pestered him, had even stolen Yuuri’s phone and called Victor for him, but he always managed to weasel himself out of those situations. Victor did try calling again a couple times, but Yuuri always left his phone ringing, letting it go to voicemail. He never left any, and Yuuri honestly isn’t sure whether he’s relieved or disappointed by that.

He still had Victor’s number saved in his phone, so he may end up texting or calling him after all in the future. But for now, he’d rather let the humiliating impression of himself fade from Victor’s memory.

Apparently, fate had some other plans.

“Yuuri?”

Everything inside him screamed as he turned slowly towards the voice, meeting a pair of wide blue eyes. Victor stood beside him, a backpack slung over his shoulder, looking at Yuuri with a surprised expression.

“Hey Victor,” he replied weakly, trying as hard as he could to stop his voice from shaking. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m in this class.”

“But this is an anatomy class?” Yuuri blurted out. Why would Victor, an engineering physics major, be taking an _anatomy_ course?

Victor shrugged, then sat down beside Yuuri, dropping his backpack on the ground.

“Well, I needed an elective, and this course sounded interesting,” he said nonchalantly, like he wasn’t aware of how brutally difficult this course was. If Yuuri had the choice, he wouldn’t be taking it, but he needed it if he planned on applying for the nursing program at the university.

They sat in silence, not saying anything to each other as the other students filed slowly into the lecture hall. Yuuri desperately wished Phichit were here, but his friend was starting their internship at the local hospital as a research assistant. He ached a little at the thought, because Yuuri knew that he _should_ also be on an internship right now, but his measly GPA, combined with his lackluster resume, didn’t land him any positions. And so, he extended his graduation by a semester as a result, all because he couldn’t get a job.

He remembered the internship program coordinator’s sympathetic face as he looked over Yuuri’s job applications, equally confused as Yuuri as to why he hadn’t landed even a single _interview_ for all the jobs he’s applied to. Phichit had at least gotten two interviews, and had been panicking about not getting a position, until the hospital got back to him a couple weeks ago. Was it his grades? The way he wrote his cover letters? His painfully average resume? Whenever he thought about this, about his academic woes and unemployed state, he found it hard to breathe, the weight of his failures crushing his chest and constricting his breathing.

And now, another failure to add to his ever-growing list of failures is ruining whatever chance of friendship he had with Victor. The silence between them was heavy with Yuuri’s mistake, neither person daring to acknowledge it. No doubt Victor was probably confused and hurt about the way Yuuri had hung up on him before he even had a chance to talk, for not calling or contacting him after the party, giving off the impression that Yuuri didn’t want anything to do with Victor.

This wasn’t the case, and Yuuri knew. But it’s not like he could do anything about it.

“Good afternoon everyone!” the professor’s voice rang out, snapping Yuuri out of his thoughts. The man had wavy brown hair tied in a ponytail and a very prominent chin. For some reason, he was wearing a lab coat with the words FACULTY OF MEDICINE emblazoned on the left breast, a stark reminder of what Yuuri failed to achieve.

As the professor, Dr. Cialdini (“but call me Celestino!” he had said), went over the syllabus, Yuuri snuck glances to his right, where Victor was sitting. The other man was listening intently, making notes in the syllabus that he already printed out.

_Focus on the lecture_ , Yuuri chided himself silently, making his own notes on his laptop. Occasionally, from the corner of his eyes, he would see Victor side-eyeing him, but he decided not to acknowledge it.

Celestino gave them a break after the first of their three-hour lecture, and Yuuri stretched his arms behind his back, loosening the tension in his shoulders. In just one hour, the professor threw so much information at them, Yuuri could already feel the impending headache he was going to have when the first midterm rolls around.

“Well…that was a lot,” Victor commented from beside him, resting his chin on his hand, looking at Yuuri with a neutral expression.

“Yeah…that’s why people don’t usually take this course as an elective,” Yuuri said.

“So I’ve heard.”

“You could always drop it though. The drop deadline isn’t until two weeks later, so you still have time.”

“I think I’ll manage, especially since we’re in this class together,” Victor said, giving Yuuri a knowing smile. He felt his cheeks heat up slightly at the comment, then remembered how he had basically ghosted Victor for a week. Well, now was as good a time as any to apologize. Yuuri inhaled deeply.

“Uh…sorry for not calling you after the party. And for hanging up on you,” he apologized, looking at his hands as he ripped a hangnail out, feeling the sharp pain as the piece of skin was removed. “I didn’t mean to do it, it’s just that my fingers slipped…”

Victor laughed softly, a warm and comfortable sound that slowed the beating of Yuuri’s heart and made him breathe easier.

“Why didn’t you just call back?” he asked. There wasn’t a trace of hostility in his voice, so at least Yuuri knew he wasn’t mad. It felt like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders.

“I…I was too embarrassed, and I just kept putting it off…” Yuuri trailed off. “B-but I’m still really sorry about it! I should’ve at least texted you or something.”

He heard Victor hum softly at the apology, and snuck a glance at his face. There was a gentle smile, an expression of understanding.

“Well, it’s fine…sort of. I was pretty hurt, Yuuri,” Victor pouted, looking adorably upset. “I thought we had a lot of fun that night.”

Yuuri sucked in a sharp breath. So something did happen that night.

“What…what exactly _did_ I do that night?” he asked quietly, trying to hide the dread in his voice. Victor’s eyes widened at the question, his mouth open slightly in surprise.

“Wait, you mean you don’t remember?” he asked incredulously. Yuuri nodded, feeling his panic rise with each second.

“When…when I drink too much, I can’t remember what happens the next morning,” he explained, pushing his glasses up nervously. “But I know I go off-the-rails when I get drunk, so…”

“So you don’t remember anything? Not even the dance-off?”

“Dance-off?!” Yuuri asked, his voice coming out higher-pitched than usual.

“You challenged Phichit to a dance-off, then a few other people got roped in, and then everyone started dancing together,” Victor said, a faraway smile on his face. Yuuri didn’t know what to make of that expression, but he did know that he regretted refusing Phichit’s attempts to tell Yuuri exactly what happened that night.

“Oh _God_ ,” he mumbled, dragging a hand down his face.

“It was really fun though! I didn’t know you were such a good dancer.”

“Oh…thanks,” Yuuri said awkwardly, blushing at the unexpected compliment. “I used to take dance lessons from a family friend before university, and Phichit and I have been in the dance club since our first year of uni.”

“Yeah, he mentioned something about a dance club! He said I should join,” Victor said, his eyes sparkling with child-like innocence. “It sounds like fun!”

Before Yuuri could respond, Celestino began to lecture again, and he turned his attention towards the various images displayed on the projection screen. The rest of the lecture passed with more anatomical terms that Yuuri would need to memorize, and he was already half-dead by the end. After he shoved his laptop into his backpack, he turned to Victor, then swallowed.

“So…Phichit said you should join, right? The dance club?” he asked Victor slowly. The other man perked up immediately at the question.

“Yeah! He said I had a pretty good sense of rhythm or something, and that anyone who could keep up with you is a good dancer in his books,” he replied with a wink. Yuuri rolled his eyes, a blush spreading across his face.

“Well, we’re meeting today to practice some new choreography,” he said, taking note of how Victor’s eyes slowly brightened. “Interested?”

“Yes!” he exclaimed, his mouth opening into a heart-shaped smile. As they headed towards the dance studio, Yuuri silently thanked his lucky stars that he managed to still have a chance with Victor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO SORRY FOR THE WAIT my summer classes started and i got swamped with studying, plus i'm applying to a bunch of jobs and i'm also going through some pretty bad writer's block that has me smashing my head into my desk every time i write something, so i'm really sorry for the short chapter ;_______; but we're finally getting into the good stuff, more characters will be introduced next chapter (whenever that's coming out lmao). thank you to anyone who's reading!!  
> scream at me on [tumblr](http://domokunrainbowkinz.tumblr.com/)


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